REVIEWS Book Marks Richard Labonte | June 07, 2004 A Son Called Gabriel, by Damian McNicholl. CDS Books, 352 pages, $22.95 hardcover. Gabriel, the narrator of this spirited novel, is a sensitive 5-year-old in 1964, bullied mercilessly at school and already aware he's not like other boys. By story's end in 1978, he's a sexually active, semi-closeted young queer, facing university and the future with measured self-confidence. Coming-out novels are nothing new, but McNicholl brings unsentimental warmth and engaging realism to his story, and that's part of the appeal of A Son Called Gabriel. So is its setting – a Northern Ireland where Protestant oppression clashes increasingly with IRA militance, where a rigid Catholic culture rules, and where homosexuality is a considerable crime against both God and nature. The comic courage with which Gabriel survives his rough passage through adolescence is a particular grace note. Comparisons to Jamie O'Neill's At Swim, Two Boys are inevitable, but Gabriel holds its own – it's not as politically charged as that much-honored novel, but McNicholl's affable voice captures the wary innocence and budding sexuality of youth with polished originality. Hancock Park, by Katherine V. Forrest. Berkley Prime Crime, 244 pages, $22.95 hardcover. Kate Delafield is back, as conflicted and compelling as ever. Hancock Park sees the Los Angeles detective spending more time in court than at grisly crime scenes, as an unctuous defense lawyer shreds her case against an abuser accused of brutally murdering his ex-wife. But for longtime fans who embraced the series when it debuted 20 years ago with Amateur City, the well-crafted mix of police procedural and courtroom sparring in the eighth book is but half the pleasure. Just as absorbing are Kate's own demons – her strained relationship with lover Aimee, her bouts of disillusionment with police work, and her growing dependence on a stiff drink or three to get her through the night. Forrest, her prose as brisk as ever, adds new stress to Kate's life: Dylan, a teen niece she's never known because of her brother's homophobia, is a runaway on L.A.'s seedy streets – and she's a girl determined to be a boy. Forrest has always kept her mysteries fresh by weaving contemporary queer concerns into the storylines, so introducing a new, transsexual character is a natural evolution. And it's a sure bet that Dylan and her transformation will figure in the next Delafield. Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People, by Joan Roughgarden. University of California Press, 474 pages, $27.50 hardcover. Birds do it, baboons do it, even fish swimming in the sea and lizards lazing in the sun do it – express gender fluidity and same-sex orientation. So why not women and men? That's the brilliantly argued crux of Evolution's Rainbow, a controversial consideration of evolution, genetic determinism, and the spectrum of sexual activity in the natural world. Roughgarden is an acclaimed professor of biology at Stanford University, and an MTF transsexual. All the aspects of her self – scientific curiosity and intelligence, personal emotion and experience – are fused in this revolutionary affirmation of life's rainbow of diversity. The result is a challenging yet seductive book that explores everything from the asexual procreation of aphids to the sexual complexity of humans. Along the way the author refutes the absolutism of Darwin's theory of evolution, challenges social-science orthodoxies, and even bitch-slaps fundamentalists who misread the Bible. This book's blend of hard science, progressive politics, and sharp thinking declares that sexual ambiguity ought to be embraced as a norm, not feared as a threat – a splendid thought. Hot Sauce and Razor Burn, by Scott & Scott. Romentics, 248 pages each, $13.99 paper. Hot Sauce, Razor Burn, Spare Parts (forthcoming) – there's a clever rhythm to the titles of these winsome romances. Scott (Pomfret) and Scott (Whittier), real-life lovers, have perfected a queer Harlequin formula that's all about heartfelt love, mildly naughty sex, and happy endings. In Hot Sauce, first of the Romentics Romances, Troy is a devilishly handsome scion of a wealthy family, and Brad is a hunky, blue-collar-born, self-taught master chef. Troy's snooty mother disdains Brad's bad breeding and schemes to undercut their passion. But love conquers all. In Razor Burn, the second novel, Blayne is a closeted workaholic scion of the mega-successful Mandatory line of male cosmetics, and Ben is an unemployed but brilliant coffee-shop layabout. Blayne's tight-ass father hates that his son is a homosexual and plots to deny them their passion. But – guess what? – love conquers all. The Scotts are a lean writing machine, their plots are imaginatively implausible, and their books deliver angst-free gay love stories. Simple, but not simpleminded, pleasures. Featured Excerpt: Our species isn't divided into two classes, normal and different. Our species is naturally a rainbow of normalcies in every bodily detail. The distinction between male and female, as defined by gamete size, does not extend with similar clarity into genotypes, chromosomes, biochemistry, hormones, morphology, brains, mental capacities, gender identities, or sexual orientations. Apart from gamete size and associated plumbing, nearly every male trait is naturally possessed by some female, and nearly every female trait is naturally possessed by some male. –from Evolution's Rainbow, by Joan Roughgarden Footnotes: Books to watch out for: My god! Coming soon we queers are everywhere; "gay life haiku" (giggle). Coming soon would be Joel Derfner's Gay Haiku, said by the publisher, Broadway Books, to be "a humorous collection" of poems reflecting contemporary gay life. The classical haiku follows a relatively rigid format of three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, demanding a discipline that possibly adds a veneer of sophistication to the book. That can't be said of a previous collection of formula poetry, Donald Dimock's bawdy 1995 book, Limericks Modern and Gay: "There was a young fellow named Tucker/ Who, instructing a novice cock.." You get the idea... WITH DOZENS OF BIOGRAPHIES already in print, is there really anything new and startling about the life of Oscar Wilde? Biographer Neil McKenna thinks so: The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde, which raised eyebrows when published in Britain in 2003, concentrates on Wilde's sexual conquests and declares he was more predator than victim. The U.S. edition is due in September from Perseus Books... JUST WEEKS AFTER THE ROMENTICS Romances became available off the shelf as well as over the Internet comes news that their authors, Scott Pomfret and Scott Whittier, have sold reprint rights to a mainstream publisher. The first novel, Hot Sauce, is due from Warner Books in time for Gay Pride in June, 2005. Richard Labonte has been reading, editing, selling, and writing about queer literature since the mid-'70s. Previous edition Book Marks [27/05/2004]